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9C La gramática: Los pronombres de objeto directo e indirecto
from ¡Venga!
by Edco Ireland
C. La gramática: Los pronombres de objeto directo e indirecto
What is an object?
Sentences are made up of different parts – subjects, verbs and objects. The subject of a sentence is the person carrying out the action of the verb.
John posted the letter to his mother.
John is carrying out the action (posted), so John is the subject of the sentence.
She throws a ball to the dog.
She is carrying out the action (throws), so she is the subject of the sentence. The verb is the action word, so in the above sentences, posted and throws are the verbs. The direct object of the sentence is having the action done to it.
John posted the letter to his mother.
What is being posted? The letter. So the letter is the direct object.
She throws a ball to the dog.
What is being thrown? The ball. So the ball is the direct object.
The indirect object is the recipient of the direct object.
John posted the letter to his mother.
Who is receiving the letter? His mother. So his mother is the indirect object.
She throws a ball to the dog.
Who is receiving the ball? The dog. So the dog is the indirect object.
C.1 Identifica el subjeto, el verbo, el objeto directo y el objeto indirecto en las siguientes frases.
1. I bought those flowers for my girlfriend. 2. Mary read the newspaper to her grandmother. 3. We will sell ten apples to the children. 4. Tom wrote an email to the principal. 5. He sent me a message last night. 6. Did you give Mr Ryan the copies? 7. The lads kicked all the balls into the goal. 8. He put the Valentine’s card in the letterbox. 9. Mrs Flynn gave us lots of homework. 10. Will we give the dog a bone?
Los pronombres de objeto directo
Direct object pronouns are used to replace direct objects to avoid repetition in sentences. For example, instead of I bought those flowers for my girlfriend, we could say I bought them for my girlfriend. In the second sentence, them is the direct object pronoun because it is replacing the direct object, those flowers. In Spanish, the direct object pronouns are as follows:
PowerPoint
Me me
Te you
Lo him/you (formal)/it (masculine)
La her/you (formal)/it (feminine)
Nos us
Os you (plural)
Los them (masculine)/you (formal and plural)
Las them (feminine)/you (formal and plural) Object pronouns should be placed BEFORE the verb in a sentence. Comió el chocolate.............................................He ate the chocolate. Lo comió...............................................................He ate it. Compré esas flores para mi novia. .................I bought those flowers for my girlfriend. Las compré para mi novia................................I bought them for my girlfriend.
Object pronouns are only placed AFTER the verb with infinitives, the present continuous and positive commands. In each of these cases, the object pronoun should be attached to the end of the verb. Voy a enviar la carta. ......................................... I’m going to send the letter. Voy a enviarla...................................................... I’m going to send it. Está comiendo el chocolate. ........................... He is eating the chocolate. Está comiéndolo................................................. He is eating it. Compra las flores................................................ Buy the flowers. Cómpralas. .......................................................... Buy them.
Words without an accent that end in a vowel, n or s always stress the second-last syllable. Think of how you would pronounce casa, bailan or hablamos. Words without an accent ending in any consonant other than n and s always stress the last syllable. Think of how you would pronounce feliz or cantar. After attaching a pronoun to the end of a word, you may need to add an accent to indicate which syllable is stressed when pronouncing the word.
Compra las flores.
Cómpralas.
1. El profesor dio el cuaderno al alumno. 2. Las niñas comieron la tortilla. 3. María puso los libros en la mesa. 4. Ellos van a comprar las bicicletas. 5. Mi tío Joaquín venderá su casa. 6. Elena está escuchando la canción. 7. Compré un regalo para mi abuelo. 8. ¿Vas a comer las pizzas? 9. Mi hijo ha comido el helado. 10. Saca la basura.
C.3 Escribe las frases en español.
1. She bought it. (it = the book) 2. They know me. 3. I am going to sell them. (them = the apples) 4. She saw us. 5. I wear it often. (it = the coat) 6. We sang it. (it = the song) 7. He hasn’t spoken to us. 8. My sister bought them. (them = the shoes) 9. We rented it. (it = the house) 10. They don’t want them. (them = those t-shirts)
C.4 Contesta a las preguntas.
Ejemplo: ¿Has aprendido el poema? No, no lo he aprendido 1. ¿Compraste la chaqueta? Sí, 2. ¿Conoces a mi primo? No, 3. ¿Leíste esa novela? No, 4. ¿Sabes su número de teléfono? Sí, 5. ¿Tienes mis lápices? Sí, 6. ¿Has perdido las entradas? No, 7. ¿Preparaste la cena? No, 8. ¿Visitarás a tus tíos? Sí, 9. ¿Has hecho los deberes? Sí, 10. ¿Comprarás la moto? No,
Los pronombres de objeto indirecto
Indirect object pronouns are used to replace indirect objects in sentences. For example, instead of I bought those flowers for my girlfriend, we could say I bought those flowers for her. In the second sentence, her is the indirect object pronoun because it is replacing the indirect object, my girlfriend. In Spanish, the indirect object pronouns are as follows:
Me me
Te you
Le him/her/you (formal)/it
Nos us
Os you (plural)
Les them/you (formal and plural) Indirect object pronouns should be placed BEFORE the verb in a sentence. Compré esas flores para mi novia. .................I bought those flowers for my girlfriend. Le compré esas flores........................................I bought those flowers for her.
Remember, object pronouns are only placed AFTER the verb with infinitives, the present continuous and positive commands. In each of these cases, the object pronoun should be attached to the end of the verb. Voy a enviar la carta a mi padre. ....................I’m going to send the letter to my dad. Voy a enviarle la carta.......................................I’m going to send him the letter.
1. Mi novio envió un correo electrónico (a mí). 2. La camarera dio la cuenta (a mi madre). 3. Compré los caramelos (para los niños). 4. Van a mostrar sus fotos (a nosotros). 5. ¿Quién dio el regalo (a ti)? 6. Preparamos los bocadillos (para Antonio). 7. El banquero dio el dinero (a las chicas). 8. Vendió su coche (a mí). 9. He dado mi cuaderno (al profesor). 10. Envio muchos mensajes de texto (a mis amigos).
C.6 Escribe las frases en español usando pronombres de objeto indirecto.
1. John bought her those flowers. 2. My cousin sent me an email. 3. Who gave them the money? 4. I am going to send the present to her. 5. We will show the exam to them. 6. She sold her bicycle to me. 7. Did you give him the pen? 8. I will buy the magazine for him. 9. The teacher gave us the answers. 10. I will send you a postcard.
Ojo!
Sometimes sentences will have both a direct object pronoun and an indirect object pronoun. For example: She gave them to me. (them = the books) We will buy it for you. (it = the car)
In Spanish, the indirect object pronoun is always placed before the direct object pronoun. She gave them to me. (them = the books) Me los dio. We will buy it for you. (it = the car) Te lo compraremos.
Two pronouns beginning with ‘l’ should never come together in a sentence. In this situation, the first pronoun changes to se. Se los dio. She gave them to him. Se lo compraremos. We will buy it for her.
If it is not clear who is being spoken about, we can add a él, a ella, a usted, a ellos, a ellas or a ustedes to make it clearer. Se los dio a él. She gave them to him.
1. Compré el estuche para ti. 2. Dimos las chocolatinas a nuestra abuela. 3. Vendió su casa a nosotros. 4. Vamos a enviar una carta a ella. 5. Compró los periódicos para su padre. 6. Elena no ha dado las respuestas a Juan. 7. ¿El profesor ha dejado un cuaderno para mí? 8. Estoy preparando una pizza para ti. 9. Roberto hace una sopa para su hermano. 10. Contaré el chiste a Carlos.
